Ethiopian Airlines, which flew more than 8.7 million passengers in 2017, will use the Cellpoint Mobile payment platform across its domestic and international operations for tickets and related transactions, Miami-based Cellpoint Mobile announced Sunday. In addition to common payment acceptance, the deal also will enable Ethiopian Airlines, which flies 100 …
Read More »Despite Growth in Mobile and Online Payments, Longstanding Payment Patterns Persist
The latest findings from a long-running survey of consumers’ payment choices show that new technology is driving a growing number of transactions, but overall usage patterns for credit cards, debit cards, and cash remain stable. The simultaneously released 2016 and 2017 Surveys of Consumer Payment Choice from the Federal Reserve …
Read More »COMMENTARY: Consumers Deserve Better Retail Protections
The cybersecurity firm Gemini Advisory recently announced a large-scale data breach at Saks Fifth Avenue and its sister company Lord & Taylor, compromising 5 million credit cards. While the forensic investigation is still under way, it appears that the breach was likely caused by malware on the parent company’s point-of-sale …
Read More »Equifax Agrees to Operational Changes in Its Data-Breach Agreement With Eight States
Equifax Inc. disclosed Wednesday that it has entered into a consent order with eight states that requires it to improve its data-protection practices in the wake of the huge data breach last year at the national credit-reporting agency. The breach compromised personal data on approximately 148 million consumers, including Social …
Read More »Account Takeovers And Digital-Goods Fraud Attacks Show No Signs of Abating
Merchants selling digital goods were dealt a heavy blow last year as the fraud rate for the category soared 167%, finds the Fraud Attack Index from online-fraud prevention specialist Forter and the Merchant Risk Council, a merchant group that addresses fraud prevention. Released Tuesday, the index also found that account …
Read More »TrustCommerce Announces an Integration and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/27/18
Captiva MVP Restaurant Partners LLC, operator of the PDQ fast-casual chain, reported that a hacker accessed its computer system through a technology vendor’s “remote connection tool” and may have compromised an undisclosed quantity of payment card numbers, cardholder names, expiration dates, and verification values. The breach, which affected all but three …
Read More »Venmo’s New Debit Card Is About More Than Cashing in on Interchange Fees
While the opportunity to earn interchange on transactions made on its new Venmo debit card seemingly answers the oft-asked question of how PayPal Holdings Inc. plans to leverage its free peer-to-peer payment service, the full answer runs much deeper. Interchange is only one piece of the puzzle. A much larger …
Read More »A Divided Supreme Court Upholds AmEx’s Anti-Steering Rules
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that American Express Co.’s anti-steering rules for merchants do not violate federal antitrust law. The conservative majority’s decision, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, caps a case that dates back to 2010 and involves merchants who wanted to steer merchants to …
Read More »Worldnet TPS Completes Apple Pay Certification and other Digital Transactions News briefs from 6/25/18
VyStar Credit Union joined the Cardtronics plc network, enabling its members to have fee-free access at more than 20,000 Cardtronics ATMs. ATM operator Prineta LLC said it is the new ATM vendor at the Renaissance Columbus Westerville-Polaris Hotel in Columbus, Ohio. Payments provider Worldnet TPS Ltd. said it has completed …
Read More »Consumers Increasingly Pay Billers Directly Rather Than Through Bank Sites
Payment volume through biller-direct Web sites continues to grow at the expense of bank bill-pay sites, according to new findings from Boston-based Aite Group LLC. Some 73% of the online bill payments made by consumers in 2016 went through biller-direct sites, up from 62% in 2010, according to Aite. Meanwhile, …
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